Airplane is known as one of the safest transport system on earth, but still many people are scare of taking flight today. If your hands are sweating or your heart beating faster just before take off or landing, you are probably one of this people. Depend where you are traveling this feelings can become more intense, especially if you have heard about the numerous tragic accident that the concerned region has been involved in.
The purpose of this article is not to make you more afraid of taking the plane, but just to inform you about the reality. And may be help you take the right decision when purchasing your flight ticket. Even a 100% way to travel safety doesn’t exist yet and will probably never do; we all want to put the balance in our favor. In some countries minimum precaution and full information seems to be required.
I love Indonesia. It is a wonderful country with more than ten thousand tropical islands, thousands of dialects and hundreds of passionate cultures. White sand in paradisiacal beaches, impenetrable rainforest and archipelago of active volcanoes make this territory one of the most wonderful countries in the world for backpackers. The wild life as much in the sea as in the land is incredibly diversified and Indonesia count hundreds, if not thousands of species you won’t find anywhere else. Additionally, Indonesia has rich natural resources which provide food and premium material for the over populated country (more than 200 millions people).
What relation with airplane? I believe many people are reluctant to travel around Indonesia since the recent event. Or should I say events (with an “s”). Indeed, the last few years have been catastrophic in terms of Airplane Crash. Unfortunately, this wonderful country is governed by a vast majority of corrupted politician who have much better to do than controlling the airplane regulation. So of course, the big competitions among Airlines Company push each of them to reduce the charges at any cost. And very often starting by reduce the maintenance frequency of their planes or the used of old spare parts, etc.. This can be scary, but it is the true.
Obviously, the Indonesian Transport’s Ministry’s recently announced that they will probably drop three airlines to the lowest rating category. Those Airlines were Adam Air, Wings Air and Dirgantara Air. Basically, they separate the companies in three different category. The first category (category I) is considered as the “fully compliant” group. The companies in the last category (category III) will have three months to make improvement before having their licenses revoked. The middle category (category II) is for the companies which have met the minimal safety requirement but have not yet complied with a number of flight-related safety measures.
After checked the safety regulations of all the 20 passenger airlines, they come with the following results.
None of the airlines are completely complying with safety regulations. It means that none of the all Indonesia airlines companies are in the category I. The 13 companies in the category II are: Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, Wings Air, Indonesia AirAsia, Mandala Airlines, Pelita Air Service, Riau Airlines, Trigana Air Service and Travel Express Aviation Service. These airlines fall short on a smaller number of safety requirements. And for the bottom category III, we have: Batavia, Adam Air, Kartika Airlines, Trans Wisata Air, Jatayu Airlines and cargo jetliners Tri MG Intra Asia Airlines and Manunggal Air Service.
Some of the company airlines in the middle category proclaim to have no idea of the kind of criteria the government is using to rate the airlines. I have to admit that transparency has never been the strong point of this government. Some airlines promised they will make improvements. At least, this result has boosted the debate and obviously should improve the situation in the future.
Personally, I believe AirAsia, Garuda Indonesia or Merpati to be some of the safest, despite the tragic event’s of Garuda Indonesia last month. For AirAsia, it is actually not a local company as they are based in Malaysia, but they provide at least fifteen destinations in Indonesia. And the have some of the cheapest airline tickets available in Asia.
I hope this article does not take away your curiosity for traveling in Indonesia. As an expatriate for seven years in Jakarta, I recommend you to consider this destination for your next trip. Indonesia is still one of the rare country in the world where you can find such diversity of culture and panorama in the same place. Just follow the above advice about aircraft safety and don’t forget to check the article about Travel Insurance. And everything should be fine. Good Luck and Nice Trip.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Did you get any Travel Insurance ?
What ever you are traveling for vacation or business, you better prepare your trip as much in advance as you can. This includes Travel Insurance. It is not always the funniest part of the process, but it could help you avoid many troubles and stress before the departure.
After you have done all your reservations and get the cheapest airplane ticket possible, you are not totally done yet. Yes, if you want to avoid troubles during your trip you better make sure you have your travel insurance properly completed.
First, when you are making your flight ticket reservation I suggest you to always include the cancellation insurance. Most of airline ticket reservation online companies provide this service and it is very cheap. So it would be foolish to take the risk. Cancellation fee doesn't necessary allow you to cancel your flight in all cases, but at least for medical problem or any "force major" reasons you should be able to get a refund; or at least part of it. Of course, some airplane ticket allows you to cancel your flight in any circumstances, but usually it is an option available for more expensive flight tickets.
After that, you will have to get a good Travel Health Insurance. The choices depends a lot of your actual health insurance condition and the country you are visiting as well as your home country. In case, you have full and unlimited cover insurance valid in any country, you will probably not need to buy a new one. But most of the time, insurance includes terms which don’t allow you to excess a certain kind of "standard" cost. In some cases, you will have a maximum limit clearly defined. The "standard" fee is generally based on the public medical care fee of your residential country. So if you are not sure, you will better check this particularly point before taking your decision. And of course, you will need to get an idea of the fee normally apply in the country you want to visit.
For example, if you are planning to travel around Asia and you come from Europe, you won't necessary get problem in most places. But be aware that country like Singapore or Australia can be more expensive than certain European country. I know some people get bad surprise when they back to their country and asked the insurance to refund the bills.
In case, you have a fixed amount clearly specified inside your insurance policy. I suggest you to use another Health Travel Insurance. Just to be on the safe side. You never know what's going to happen. It is already hard enough to be involved in any kind of accident during holiday. You wouldn't like to have to be worry of your ability to cover the charges during your illness. In many countries they won't accept you in the hospital unless you show them solid insurance proof or a full charged credit card.
Another point to check before your departure is to make sure, whatever insurance you decide to use, that it include repatriation. There are some places in Asia, you would prefer wait the plane than being heal in their hospital. Especially when you are staying far away from big city.
You would like also to check if your travel insurance covers the lost of luggage, or the cost of a missing flight, etc... Some Insurance will even cover you’re the lost of cash money. Check the maximum cover for each item; check the terms and conditions, etc… It seems to be a lot of work, but it really can help you make your vacations more relaxing.
After all of this is done. Don’t forget to make photocopies of all your documents and keep it in a separate place. And finally, enjoy and have a nice trip.
After you have done all your reservations and get the cheapest airplane ticket possible, you are not totally done yet. Yes, if you want to avoid troubles during your trip you better make sure you have your travel insurance properly completed.
First, when you are making your flight ticket reservation I suggest you to always include the cancellation insurance. Most of airline ticket reservation online companies provide this service and it is very cheap. So it would be foolish to take the risk. Cancellation fee doesn't necessary allow you to cancel your flight in all cases, but at least for medical problem or any "force major" reasons you should be able to get a refund; or at least part of it. Of course, some airplane ticket allows you to cancel your flight in any circumstances, but usually it is an option available for more expensive flight tickets.
After that, you will have to get a good Travel Health Insurance. The choices depends a lot of your actual health insurance condition and the country you are visiting as well as your home country. In case, you have full and unlimited cover insurance valid in any country, you will probably not need to buy a new one. But most of the time, insurance includes terms which don’t allow you to excess a certain kind of "standard" cost. In some cases, you will have a maximum limit clearly defined. The "standard" fee is generally based on the public medical care fee of your residential country. So if you are not sure, you will better check this particularly point before taking your decision. And of course, you will need to get an idea of the fee normally apply in the country you want to visit.
For example, if you are planning to travel around Asia and you come from Europe, you won't necessary get problem in most places. But be aware that country like Singapore or Australia can be more expensive than certain European country. I know some people get bad surprise when they back to their country and asked the insurance to refund the bills.
In case, you have a fixed amount clearly specified inside your insurance policy. I suggest you to use another Health Travel Insurance. Just to be on the safe side. You never know what's going to happen. It is already hard enough to be involved in any kind of accident during holiday. You wouldn't like to have to be worry of your ability to cover the charges during your illness. In many countries they won't accept you in the hospital unless you show them solid insurance proof or a full charged credit card.
Another point to check before your departure is to make sure, whatever insurance you decide to use, that it include repatriation. There are some places in Asia, you would prefer wait the plane than being heal in their hospital. Especially when you are staying far away from big city.
You would like also to check if your travel insurance covers the lost of luggage, or the cost of a missing flight, etc... Some Insurance will even cover you’re the lost of cash money. Check the maximum cover for each item; check the terms and conditions, etc… It seems to be a lot of work, but it really can help you make your vacations more relaxing.
After all of this is done. Don’t forget to make photocopies of all your documents and keep it in a separate place. And finally, enjoy and have a nice trip.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Find Asia Cheapest Flight
Traveling around Asia for more than 10 years and living in Indonesia for almost 7 years now. I often have been in situations where I was looking for a cheap airfare. From my first experiences I had the feeling it was quite different to deal with domestic or international flight. For sample, in most countries when you purchase domestic flight ticket you won't get any differences price between two "one way" tickets OR one "return" ticket. Except of course a slightly discount for the return ticket.
Now, when is coming to international air travel it’s harder to find Cheap Asia Travel tickets. Sometimes, you can even get cheaper return ticket. So if you plan to travel in many different cities (round trip with many transit stop) it can be hard to find good deals. However the following advice should helps you find the Asia Cheapest Flight available online.
I separate this article in two parts, international and domestic flight.
First, let’s talk about international flight. There is a lot of good web site around there, but you will need to do a lot of searches before you find what you really want. I suggest you to start by looking for the available airplane companies which deserve the concerned country you are flying to or from.
For sample, if you are in Indonesia and want to flight to Australia, you will most likely have to choose between Garuda and Quantas. There are possibilities to use other flights companies such as Malaysia Airlines or Singapore Airlines. But you will loose a lot of time during your trip as you will have to transit to this cities.
As you will see in the following article about domestic flight, Air Asia is one of my favorite when is about to flight in Indonesia. And this is also true when is to find the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve more than fifty cities in the region.
About domestic flight, I experienced two totally different experiences in Indonesia and Australia.
In Indonesia, if you want to buy a domestic flight ticket you will have plenty of choices. Indonesia is a vast Archipelago of tropical and Virgin Islands constitute of more than twelve's thousand islands. More than three thousands of these Islands are inhabited and I believe that more than hundreds of them get an airport. So, you can imagine the number of possibilities and market available in Indonesia. The main company airlines in Indonesia are Garuda (also provide international flight), Merpati, Mandala, Lion Air, Adam Air, Star Air, Batavia, etc..
Find the cheapest airline ticket is one thing, but don't forget about safety (see the article Airplane Safety). I don't have any statistics about safety right now so I prefer not mention specifically any of them. But if you had read the newspaper these last few months, you probably know what I'm talking about. Some of the above names are probably famous around the world right now, but probably not for the cheapest airfare.... But don’t worries too much as airplane remind one of the safest transportation systems in the world.
After you had eliminated the worst flight company from your newspaper research, you can start compare price between few of the companies. Just go to Google, type the company name and you should find their web site in manner of seconds. If you looking for ticket long in advance (let's say more than three weeks), you will find that most of ticket have similar quotes with the international and most reputed national company.....Garuda Indonesia. And that's the problem in Indonesia if you want to order domestic flight more than three weeks in advance...No cheap airfare ticket available. You will have to wait the "perfect" time to order your ticket (between three weeks and two weeks in advance.... be careful after that it could be too late) and you should be able to get 20% to 70% discount.
Obviously there is another way to find cheap domestic ticket plane if you want to order you ticket long time in advance. You can use Air Asia. They have very cheap airfare and good website (www.AirAsia.com). This is a service from Malaysia, and they provide many other cities and countries around Asia. A really good solution for Cheap Asia Travel.
In Indonesia, AirAsia only deserve the main cities such as Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali), Medan, Surabaya, etc... Globally, they fly over fifty cities around Asia. The service is limited (no seat pre-reserved in check-in), but it is safe and their fees really defy all concurrences for this range and types of services. They really get the Cheapest Flight in Asia I have seen so far. So, have a look....
In Australia, it seems to works mostly like in the others western countries. More you booked in advance more chances you have to get a cheap airfare. I heard Quantas have some interesting packages available, like you buy a kind of atonement and can get great discount for a certain number of flight. If you need a lot of flights it could be advantageous. But the cheapest way to buy airline ticket is probably to book online with Blue Virgin or Jet Star. Both of them deserve many different cities in Australia, but not necessary the same one. So, it really depends where you want to go. Sometimes, its worse make some deep research to get better fee. For sample, once I was looking for a cheap airfare between Sydney and Darwin. Blue Virgin offered 450 AUD (via Brisbanne) and Jet Star didn't have this possibility. But when I check more deeply some others cities, I found out that I can get Sydney-Adelaide for 99AUD and Adelaide-Darwin for 167 AUD with Jet Star. Total 266 AUD. I just saved 184 AUD. Sometimes you will find better price with Blue Virgin. It all depends of the availability. So good search and good luck.
By the way, JetStar also provide some of the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve many others country such as Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc...
The writer is an expatriate living in Indonesia for many years. If you want to contact him for anything related to this article or any travel in Indonesia. Contact him at : Chris.Hanten@hotmail.com.
Now, when is coming to international air travel it’s harder to find Cheap Asia Travel tickets. Sometimes, you can even get cheaper return ticket. So if you plan to travel in many different cities (round trip with many transit stop) it can be hard to find good deals. However the following advice should helps you find the Asia Cheapest Flight available online.
I separate this article in two parts, international and domestic flight.
First, let’s talk about international flight. There is a lot of good web site around there, but you will need to do a lot of searches before you find what you really want. I suggest you to start by looking for the available airplane companies which deserve the concerned country you are flying to or from.
For sample, if you are in Indonesia and want to flight to Australia, you will most likely have to choose between Garuda and Quantas. There are possibilities to use other flights companies such as Malaysia Airlines or Singapore Airlines. But you will loose a lot of time during your trip as you will have to transit to this cities.
As you will see in the following article about domestic flight, Air Asia is one of my favorite when is about to flight in Indonesia. And this is also true when is to find the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve more than fifty cities in the region.
About domestic flight, I experienced two totally different experiences in Indonesia and Australia.
In Indonesia, if you want to buy a domestic flight ticket you will have plenty of choices. Indonesia is a vast Archipelago of tropical and Virgin Islands constitute of more than twelve's thousand islands. More than three thousands of these Islands are inhabited and I believe that more than hundreds of them get an airport. So, you can imagine the number of possibilities and market available in Indonesia. The main company airlines in Indonesia are Garuda (also provide international flight), Merpati, Mandala, Lion Air, Adam Air, Star Air, Batavia, etc..
Find the cheapest airline ticket is one thing, but don't forget about safety (see the article Airplane Safety). I don't have any statistics about safety right now so I prefer not mention specifically any of them. But if you had read the newspaper these last few months, you probably know what I'm talking about. Some of the above names are probably famous around the world right now, but probably not for the cheapest airfare.... But don’t worries too much as airplane remind one of the safest transportation systems in the world.
After you had eliminated the worst flight company from your newspaper research, you can start compare price between few of the companies. Just go to Google, type the company name and you should find their web site in manner of seconds. If you looking for ticket long in advance (let's say more than three weeks), you will find that most of ticket have similar quotes with the international and most reputed national company.....Garuda Indonesia. And that's the problem in Indonesia if you want to order domestic flight more than three weeks in advance...No cheap airfare ticket available. You will have to wait the "perfect" time to order your ticket (between three weeks and two weeks in advance.... be careful after that it could be too late) and you should be able to get 20% to 70% discount.
Obviously there is another way to find cheap domestic ticket plane if you want to order you ticket long time in advance. You can use Air Asia. They have very cheap airfare and good website (www.AirAsia.com). This is a service from Malaysia, and they provide many other cities and countries around Asia. A really good solution for Cheap Asia Travel.
In Indonesia, AirAsia only deserve the main cities such as Jakarta, Denpasar (Bali), Medan, Surabaya, etc... Globally, they fly over fifty cities around Asia. The service is limited (no seat pre-reserved in check-in), but it is safe and their fees really defy all concurrences for this range and types of services. They really get the Cheapest Flight in Asia I have seen so far. So, have a look....
In Australia, it seems to works mostly like in the others western countries. More you booked in advance more chances you have to get a cheap airfare. I heard Quantas have some interesting packages available, like you buy a kind of atonement and can get great discount for a certain number of flight. If you need a lot of flights it could be advantageous. But the cheapest way to buy airline ticket is probably to book online with Blue Virgin or Jet Star. Both of them deserve many different cities in Australia, but not necessary the same one. So, it really depends where you want to go. Sometimes, its worse make some deep research to get better fee. For sample, once I was looking for a cheap airfare between Sydney and Darwin. Blue Virgin offered 450 AUD (via Brisbanne) and Jet Star didn't have this possibility. But when I check more deeply some others cities, I found out that I can get Sydney-Adelaide for 99AUD and Adelaide-Darwin for 167 AUD with Jet Star. Total 266 AUD. I just saved 184 AUD. Sometimes you will find better price with Blue Virgin. It all depends of the availability. So good search and good luck.
By the way, JetStar also provide some of the Asia Cheapest Flight as they deserve many others country such as Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc...
The writer is an expatriate living in Indonesia for many years. If you want to contact him for anything related to this article or any travel in Indonesia. Contact him at : Chris.Hanten@hotmail.com.
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